The Hiding Place is one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. It tells the story of Corrie Ten Boom, a Dutch watchmaker who became a resistance leader against the Nazis during World War II. In this book, Corrie shares how she and her family hid Jews from the Nazis, got arrested, and sentenced to the infamous German concentration camps.
The book also tells a much more incredible story about a sovereign God whose love can overcome even the darkest pits of life.
I had the privilege and pleasure of reading the Hiding Place in 2020 and 2021, and have been blessed, inspired, convicted, and challenged by each reading. Here are my seven key takeaways.
1. God is sovereign in our suffering
“But if God has shown us bad times ahead, it’s enough for me that He knows about them. That’s why He sometimes shows us things, you know—to tell us that this too is in His hands.” –
When the German occupation began in Holland, Corrie had a vision of soldiers taking away her family against their will to an unknown place. Troubled by this, she told her eldest sister Betsie about her vision. Betsie, however, did not worry. She believed in God’s sovereignty and knew everything was under His control.
How often do we forget this glorious truth? God is sovereign over everything! As the late R.C. Sproul said, there is not “one maverick molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty.”
God is always in control, even amid fiery trials. He causes the rain to fall just as much as He makes the sun shine. Our circumstances may surprise us, but nothing takes Him off guard. So when we fall into trials, we need not fear or worry. Instead, like Betsie, we can be confident and have peace because this, too, is in His almighty hands.
2. We can be thankful in all circumstances
“‘Give thanks in all circumstances,’ she quoted. It doesn’t say, ‘in pleasant circumstances.’ Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.” –
After the Ten Booms’ arrest, Corrie and Betsie were transferred to Ravensbruck, a German concentration camp. While there, they stayed in a filthy barracks infested with fleas. So the sisters asked God to show them how to live in such dire conditions, and Betsie’s face lit up as she realized God had already told them in His Word. By being thankful!
She reminded a skeptical Corrie that God had commanded them to be grateful in all circumstances, not only pleasant ones. So Betsie thanked God for everything—even the fleas.
For many of us (yours truly included), our knee-jerk reaction to trials isn’t gratitude but complaining and disputing. But God wants us to respond to all situations with thankfulness. We can be thankful because God is good and only gives good gifts to His children. Even when He afflicts us, it is still for our good and His glory. As Spurgeon said, “God is too good to be unkind, and He is too wise to be mistaken. And when we cannot trace His hand, we must trust His heart.”
During their stay at the camp, the sisters had an unusual amount of freedom in their barracks. Soldiers never came in to harass them, and they could conduct daily Bible studies and worship without interference. They later discovered that it was because of the fleas! The soldiers refused to step into their barracks because of the fleas.
3. Rejoice in all circumstances
“Happiness isn’t something that depends on our surroundings, Corrie. It’s something we make inside ourselves.”
If being thankful in any circumstances is challenging, rejoicing is near impossible. Corrie and Betsie had every reason to be upset. They were held in a concentration camp under harsh living conditions for obeying God and helping His people. Yet they didn’t resent God or let their wretched surroundings steal their joy. Like Paul, they rejoiced in the Lord.
They held daily Bible studies in their barracks and praised God in hymns and songs. As a result, they filled their hearts with joy, hope, and love that not even the cruelty of the German camp could extinguish.
We can also have joy despite our circumstances. The same Lord that helped Paul rejoice while chained to a soldier for two years and helped the Ten boom sisters rejoice in a German concentration camp abides in us too. Therefore, as Paul said, we can rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4).
4. Treasure God’s Word
“The blacker the night around us grew, the brighter and truer and more beautiful burned the Word of God.”
Shortly after Corrie was put in prison, the guards took her to a hospital for a health inspection. A nurse secretly asked her if she needed anything, and Corrie immediately requested a Bible. Her most urgent need was God’s Word, and she asked for other necessities like soap and a toothbrush almost as an afterthought. And when Corrie finally got a complete Bible, her heart leaped with unspeakable joy and gratitude.
She reminded me of Psalm 19:10, which says God’s Word is more to be desired than gold, even much fine gold.
How many Christians in the free world genuinely desire God’s Word more than anything else? How many of us, had we been in Corrie’s shoes, would have asked for a Bible first? If even at all?
Thanks to modern technology, God has blessed us with virtually unlimited access to His Word. Unfortunately, many believers take their Bibles for granted and do not read them. It shouldn’t be! God’s Word is our most precious treasure! God immensely blessed us by giving us Bibles in our native tongue and the freedom to read them. Many Christians worldwide would literally give everything they have for such a privilege.
5. Love and pray for your enemies
“‘Corrie, I pray every day that we will be allowed to do this! To show them that love is greater!’ And it wasn’t until I was gathering twigs later in the morning that I realized that I had been thinking of the feeble-minded and Betsie of their persecutors.”
The German soldiers were cruel to the inmates. They yelled at them, beat them, mistreated them, and even paraded them naked while mocking them. Yet Betsie harbored no hatred towards them. She actually loved and pitied them! She constantly prayed for her captors and wished to guide them out of the darkness. Betsie even dreamed of opening a home where people like the German soldiers could learn to love.
How amazing! Even Corrie was astounded!
Jesus instructed us to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44), and Betsie obeyed Him remarkably! And she could only do it because of her savior, who loved and gave up Himself for His enemies (Romans 5:8). When Corrie later learned to forgive her persecutors, she said, “And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives, along with the command, the love itself.”
Betsie’s example is one we should emulate, especially now that world leaders are becoming crueler and totalitarian. If Jesus loved us His enemies, prayed for us, and forgave us, who are we not to do the same to our enemies?
6. We must always share the gospel
“We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that He is not deeper still. They will listen to us, Corrie, because we have been here.”
While imprisoned, Corrie and Betsie used every opportunity to share the gospel with other inmates. They didn’t use their affliction or potential repercussions as an excuse. But day in and out, they proclaimed Christ. Consequently, God used them to reach many lost souls with the hope of the gospel.
Jesus’s last command was to make disciples of all nations and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s a mission we must always carry out. There is no excuse to shrink from this responsibility—not trials or persecution. We must preach the gospel in and out of season and always be ready to give a reason for the hope in us.
7. Look past God’s affliction and gaze upon His Face
“Don’t look at it, Corrie. Look at Jesus only.”
Corrie and Betsie’s sojourn in the German concentration camps was miserable. They lived in overcrowded barracks, had soiled bedding, little personal hygiene, worked under harsh conditions, and more. They could have focused on their afflictions and lament all day, but they looked beyond their present circumstances and set their gaze higher. The result was a full appreciation of God’s inexhaustible grace and love.
There were so many ways God showed steadfast love towards the sisters. He kept them together, provided medicine for Betsie’s fragile health, helped Corrie sneak a Bible into camp, provided opportunities to share the gospel, and more. Yes, their circumstances were dreadful. But God was still good!
God is also gracious and merciful to us in our trials, but we may miss it if we look at our difficulties instead of Him. But if we change our perspective, we will be floored by the depth of His grace amid our afflictions. As Thomas Brooks said, “A gracious soul may look through the darkest cloud and see a God smiling on him.”
“‘But Liz,’ Corrie told her, ‘You are looking at the wrong side!’ She took the sorry thing from Liz’s hand. ‘This is what our lives look like, from our limited viewpoint.’ Then with a flourish, Corrie shook open the cloth and turned it around to display a magnificent crown embroidered in red, purple, and gold. ‘But when we turn over the threads of our lives to God, this is what He sees!’”
The Hiding Place
Betsie and Corrie probably didn’t understand what God was doing through them. But now that they are in glory, they can finally see the majestic tapestry God wove with the threads of their lives. And I am sure that they wouldn’t change even the slightest bit of their story.
God used them not only to save Jews, prisoners, and captors during World War II but also to inspire millions of believers afterward.
God can also use us for His glory when we offer ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice. We won’t understand our story as we live it. Still, one glorious day, what we know in part, we will understand fully, and we will join the throng of believers around the throne and praise the Lord for His magnificent works.
“Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word”- Psalm 119:114.
